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Hi All, i badly need advice. Any would be appreciated.My Profile:Graduated with a GPA of 2.56 out of 4 in 2006 from a business related degree (legal and accounting)in an Irish University .27 years of age, will be going on 28 when beginning Masters in Sept 2013.Have 8 months work experience in a bank from during my degree(is this too long ago to count?)6 months in an accounting firm in 2006/2007 after degree. .did not pursue: 2 years working in an Irish cosmetics company promoted to Marketing manager (could say I was marketing manager for 2 years):1 year working abroad in a Managerial role training 20 teachers in a developing country(non- business related but lots of responsibility-does this count as work abroad): Volunteer work with amnesty international and abroad while in the above job volunteering by teaching illiterate children outside school and organising sports activities for local kids.Suffered from depression during my degree and this inhibited my study/ scoring capabilities: can I include this in my essay and will it help me?I want to study a Masters in International Business Management from a top university in Europe. Do I have a chance??I haven’t started studying for the GMAT yet as I fear that my low college GPA will prevent me from getting into a top programme. I would love to do the SIM at St. Gallen and am also looking at Manheim and EM Lyon. Do I have a chance? Also will I be too old at 28 for such programmes? I feel utterly lost. I have lots of time to study at the moment but cannot decide to begin or not as maybe I have no chance getting into a top business school that requires gmat.Please advise me on what to do. Do I have a chance getting in the aforementioned schools with a good gmat score considering my low gpa? How is my work/volunteer experience compared with other candidates? Am I too long out of college/old to be considered for a Masters in Management? IF I don’t have a chance getting into the above school can you suggest any other good ones that will help catapult me into a good career?

I'm not familiar with the schools you're referencing, so you should take my comments with a grain of salt. a UGPA that low will be a problem if you're applying to a competitive program. there's no way around it really. one thing you could try and do is take a couple of classes between now and when you apply to increase your GPA. it's time consuming, but it could be worth the investment. the low GPA could be offset with a strong GMAT, but it'd need to be quite high to convince the adcom that you can handle the work.

with that said, i still think it's worth applying. the worst that could happen is you hear "no" and you're no worst off than where you are right now. you said yourself you have plenty of time to prepare, so why not take advantage of the MBA application process to focus your career goals, learn more thru GMAT prep, and think deeply about why you want this degree. from reading your post, i sense that you may be a little unfocused career-wise and may not know what you want to do professionally. it may snd weird, but the rigor and reflection required by the MBA application process may even help refine your thinking.

as it relates to discussing depression in your essays, i'd say that's up to you. i don't think it'd be a "red flag" or anything, as LONG AS YOU CAN position it as smthg that led to a positive. it's part of who you are and the journey you're on, so it's important. but make sure you don't sound like a victim when you mention what you went thru.